Speculation runs high — if not deep — about Apple\’s launch of integrated TV unit

With the volume of chatter surrounding the latest rumored Apple product — an integrated television unit — being turned ever nearer 11, as reports Wednesday indicate the Mac, iPhone and iPad maker
is testing TV designs with its component suppliers in Asia, it\’s peculiar how vague the speculation has remained about the unit\’s appearance.

But would the mold, in fact, be broken by Apple\’s first made-for-the-living-room-wall offering? As 24/7 Wall St.\’s Douglas A. McIntyre writes today, the Cupertino, Calif., company had broadly defined \”first mover\” advantages with its iPhone and even iPod (say what you will about their having been preceded by the BlackBerry and various MP3 players, respectively). With the anticipated television, the absence of such an advantage, writes McIntyre, could be \”a barrier [Apple] cannot overcome.\”

Morgan Stanley\’s Katy Huberty is playing down that (and, apparently, any other) concern, pointing, according to a MacRumors.com report, to a study showing some 13 million TVs are all but sold to survey respondents characterizing their interest in buying one as \”extreme.\” That sales forecast more than quadruples if one suspects the Apple unit, once on show, can also convert those \”somewhat interested.\”

… needs this item for one reason and one reason only: to sell in the Apple stores. There is room for it there, and the company can get the full benefit of not sending the device through distribution channels, affording it price competitivity and high margins.

The idea, of course, is that Apple has the design and development chops to bring out a unique TV with special features targeting the Apple audience — that is, anyone who uses a computer or a phone. …

People will want to see the device but will have to go to the stores to do so. This increases store traffic, resulting in higher and higher numbers. If shoppers buy the TV, great; if not, maybe they will buy something else. You now have them in the store. …

And unless the TV is a complete loser and doesn’t work at all, the company will benefit enormously.

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